Ronnie O'Sullivan: Stephen Hendry says 'there are faults' in Rocket's cueing technique
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Updated 29/04/2024 at 17:58 GMT
Ronnie O'Sullivan may be arguably the greatest snooker player of all time, but fellow GOAT contender Stephen Hendry reckons "there are faults" in the Rocket's cueing. Hendry says there is an aspect of O'Sullivan's technique that he doesn't like, as Mark Allen also added that you "definitely wouldn't teach it." The world No. 1 progressed to the quarter-finals at the Crucible on Monday.
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In a surprising revelation, Stephen Hendry says that Ronnie O'Sullivan's cue action has "faults in it" and broke down the reasons why he couldn't anoint the Rocket's technique as the greatest of all time.
O'Sullivan has carried almost all before him in the snooker world over recent seasons, breaking record after record while being one of the most watchable operators on the baize.
But Hendry - himself a seven-time world champion, a mark O'Sullivan is looking to go past this year at the Crucible with an eighth title - instead pointed to another man active on the World Snooker Tour that he would rather model the perfect snooker player on.
“I think his [O'Sullivan's] cue action is unique to him,” Hendry told Mark Allen on his 'Cue Tips' show.
“I don’t like the way he aims down on the cue ball. I think because he’s so talented, he gets away with it.
“I think if you taught someone to do that, they’d be putting unwanted side all over the ball, and it’d be very hard to control.
“I mean we’re nitpicking with the greatest player of all time, but whenever he misses it’s a decel [deceleration], because he has got that long backswing.
“If you’re talking about the techniques of the cue action, there are faults in it.
“If you look at Neil Robertson – if you were going to build a snooker player, he’d probably be up there.”
Allen, who has been across the table from O'Sullivan on a number of occasions in recent seasons, shared why he also could not say that the Rocket's action is the greatest of all time - but did highlight one aspect which he would rate as the best he's seen.
“It's not level, it's very steep," Allen said of O'Sullivan's technique. "But there’s a lot of movement.
“But what I would say with Ronnie, if you just took this one aspect of his cue action, his final delivery, there’s zero movement.
“It’s just straight through, it’s perfect. The final delivery is just perfect. Everything before that is far from perfect, and it’s something you definitely wouldn’t teach.
“The talent that he has – but there must be hard work to go with it – helps him through and helps him get away with it.”
Allen, weighing in on who he would say has the greatest cue action of all time, said: "Shaun [Murphy's] is a great cue action but it's quite loopy.
"I think Robertson is the one for me, it just looks perfect."
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O'Sullivan secured a 22nd World Championship quarter-final with his 13-7 win over Ryan Day on Monday.
But it wasn't all plain sailing, as the 48-year-old was the victim of a shocking kick at a crucial stage of the encounter.
Next for O'Sullivan will be a clash with either Jack Lisowski or Stuart Bingham, who play to a finish on Monday night.
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